WHAT IS ADVOCACY?

As the only international trade association devoted to protecting the interests of the global hospitality industry, the International Hotel & Restaurant Association’s role is to monitor, research, and where possible, preempt the passage of regulation and taxation at the international level when this is deemed to run contrary to industry interests. The representation work involved in doing this is termed “advocacy”, i.e. advocating or defending the interests of a specific sector before public (and sometimes private) sector decision-making bodies.

Why undertake advocacy?

The Travel & Tourism explosion of the last three decades has focused government attention on the hospitality sector as never before, bringing in its wake a surge of new regulation and taxation. Although laws are enacted at national level, they frequently have their genesis in international agencies (principally those of the United Nations) which have seen their role and mandate expand exponentially in recent decades.

As a result advocacy (or lobbying) to promote and defend the hospitality industry’s interests has been repeatedly stressed by Chain and National Association Chief Executives within IH&RA as the activity that constitutes their major expectation of membership.. As a membership-driven association and the “voice of the industry”, IH&RA must be vigilantly proactive in protecting the global interests of the hospitality industry it represents. To do this, it is essential to monitor, research and even more importantly, forecast the issues of concern and importance to its members and the industry at large.